


The Kids Are Alright

by sheApunk89



Series: Small Wars [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Brothers, CC-2224 | Cody is a Good Bro, CT-7567 | Rex Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Nightmares, smol clone bois, soft brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 08:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30120261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheApunk89/pseuds/sheApunk89
Summary: Rex wakes up in a strange place.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex
Series: Small Wars [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2168856
Comments: 7
Kudos: 68





	The Kids Are Alright

**Author's Note:**

> Little bit of angst this time because I have a problem.

Rex awoke with a start, his whole body going rigid, eyes wide as he gazed across the dark.

He wasn't in his pod, which was enough to send his mind spiraling in panic _(where was he? Did the longnecks know he wasn't where he should be? Would he be punished?)_. There was movement in the dark, startled screams and some sort of struggle that Rex's sleep addled mind couldn't make sense of. He gripped his blanket tighter and willed himself to be silent and still _(if they can't find you, they can't hurt you)_.

"Udesii, vod, you're alright!"

"Wake up, Nitro. You're safe."

"Grab his hands."

"Be careful, be careful."

There was another shout and the sound of a closed fist hitting flesh followed by a pained grunt and Rex bolted upright, shaking so hard his teeth were chattering _(Where was he? Would they come for him next?)._

"Rex."

Rex's head whipped around toward a quiet voice behind him. It was almost too dark to see, but he could just make out a small lump in the bed next to his.

"C'mere Rex, its okay." The voice whispered again.

"Kote?" He squeaked, ashamed of the tears in his voice but too frightened to hold them back.

"Yeah."

Needing no more convincing, Rex scrambled out of his bunk and dove in next to his brother. Immediately Kote's arms encircled his back, folding Rex tight to his chest and tucking his head under his chin.

"You alright?"

Rex managed a nod but kept his hands fisted in the front of his brother's shirt.

"There was screaming." He said after a moment. Screaming in the night wasn’t unheard of on Kamino. It occasionally meant nightmares, but mostly it meant when you woke up one of your brothers would be missing and never seen again.

"I know," Kote rubbed Rex's back, soothing and steady, "but it wasn’t like that. Just a nightmare. Everyone has bad dreams sometimes."

"Even you?"

Kote smiled. Littles always thought the best of their big brothers. They were older, wiser. Stronger and infallible. Sometimes Kote forgot how little Rex was.

"Even me vod'ika." Across the room things had settled down. Whoever had been having the nightmare had either been woken or sufficiently calmed and there was only occasional whispering now.

"Go back to sleep."

There were a few beats of silence, though Kote knew Rex wasn't asleep by the way he kept tapping his fingers on his chest, and then,

"Kote?"

"Yeah?"

"Whats gonna happen to us now?"

Kote sighed, scratching his fingers absently over the short hairs on the back of his brother's head.

"I don’t know. We'll probably be sent back to Kamino."

Rex's fingers stilled.

"I don’t want to."

Kote just nodded. He didn’t really want to either.

"Kote?"

"Yeah Rex."

"Do you believe the Jedi? About how we used to be big? Even though we don’t remember?"

Kote sighed.

"I don’t think they have a reason to lie."

"If its true...there'll be tests. On Kamino."

Rex knew about tests on Kamino. Due to his blonde mutation he'd been subjected to many more than his brothers over the years. He'd been poked and prodded, hooked up to machines for hours on end, sleep deprived, scanned and questioned long after the rest of the cadets had been excused from such investigations. All so the Kaminoans could try to figure out how Rex's mutation had happened, if they could prevent it in the future, if he had any other _defects_.

(Secretly Kote thought Rex's competence was one of the oddities to the Kaminoans. If he weren’t so exceptional they wouldn’t be so curious. Maybe if he seemed more defective they wouldn’t look at him so closely. But Cody would never say that to Rex. He would never ask his little brother to be less than he is.)

Unexplained age regression would undoubtedly be considered one defect too many. The rarity of the change would probably save his life, but Rex would be more valuable to them now as an experiment than a soldier. Kote didn’t worry about what would happen to himself but Rex...

"You're not defective." Kote said finally, because Rex could always stand to hear it. "And I won’t let anything happen to you."

Rex just pushed his face into his brother's neck and gave a tiny nod. Kote sighed and squeezed him closer, tighter, until the tiny body in his arms stopped trembling.

"Just go back to sleep. I'll talk to the Jedi in the morning."

Rex nodded again and drifted off within moments in the safety of his brother's arms. Kote stayed awake for a long time after. He kept the watch, staring out into the darkness at bodies that dwarfed his own as they shifted in sleep.

He wondered if he was better at protecting Rex when he was big than he was now. If Rex still needed his protection the way he did when he was Little. 

But then, it didn't really matter, did it?

Big or small, Kote would always be Rex's big brother, so he would find a way to protect him from this too.


End file.
